Recently, Dr Alejandra Rodríguez-Remedi welcomed researchers, creative practitioners and campaigners to the reflective and playful interdisciplinary workshop, "Creative Approaches to the Energy Crisis", funded by Aberdeen Grants Academy. (Photos courtesy of Vix Fowler.)
An initiative of Film and Visual Culture lecturer Dr Alejandra Rodríguez-Remedi and funded by the Aberdeen Grants Academy through its internal funding to pump-prime research and research networks, the "Creative approaches to the energy crisis" interdisciplinary workshop on Monday and Tuesday last week welcomed an enthusiastic and diverse cohort of researchers and creative practitioners interested in bringing the sciences and the arts and humanities closer together for a more holistic understanding of energy transitions.
The workshop was co-organised by curator Rachel Grant of Fertile Ground and, in addition to researchers from several LLMVC Departments, included strong representation from Geosciences, Biological Sciences, Business, Law, Natural and Computing Sciences, the Medical School, and Special Collections and Library Services as well as external attendees from Creative Carbon Scotland, Friends of the Earth Scotland, Friends of Saint Fittick's Park, the North East Scotland Climate Action Network, Robert Gordon University, and Peacock & the worm.
Both days of the event were dedicated to reflection and discussion about topics such as Aberdeen's entanglements with oil, the visibility and invisibility of oil, the emotional impact of oil, and just transitions. There were also stimulating presentations and playful participatory activities by creative practitioners such as the artists Kate Downie, Alison Scott and Maja Zećo, the filmmakers Sara Stroud and Callum Kellie, the writer Shane Strachan, and the composer Dylan Dutot Mayne. On the Monday, the attendees were to be seen wandering outside the Science Teaching Hub in bare feet, and later outfitted in PPE in one of the building's state-of-the-art laboratories for a discussion and a photo opportunity with a sample of crude oil, that most toxic substance which has made the region a petrocultural hotspot for the last 55 years.
Photographs courtesy of Vix Fowler.